Project Management and Monitoring Production – 24/02/12

This week was the final week we had to complete our projects before the deadline, which is today. I have therefore spent my time this week making changes to my product to make it look more professional, and more aesthetically pleasing. In order to do this, I have invited comments from both my assessors and my peers, so that I have a better idea of what I needed to change. I have managed to meet the deadline, and my product has been handed in.

I have been working on all four parts of my product this week. Firstly, I felt that my front cover looked a bit cramped in terms of sell lines etc. I therefore changed the size of some of the sell lines, and in particular the main sell line, so that I could move the other sell lines around in order to fit better on the front cover. I also changed the console sell line, to one which suited the magazine better. In addition, effects such as drop shadows and inner glows have been added to give the page more depth.

On the contents page, I have standardised the font, so that the page looks consistent throughout. I have also added small features which make the contents page more engaging. For example, I have added red corners to each feature story to make it stand out more. I also used a brush to seperate the bottom half of the page as there was too much space before, and it made the page harder to follow.

I have also made various changes to the double page spreads.This has involved making sure that various elements on the double page spreads are lined up properly, and so that they are not wonky. For example, on the tablet article, I made sure the boxes which had the text in were the same size, and also that they were the same distance apart. Similarly, I lined up the 'p' ratings, so that the double page spread was professional. I also changed the position of the boxes on the page, as there was too much space on the pages before, which made the article difficult to read. In addition, I have added a kicker to introduce the readers to the article.

In terms of the DPS with the headphones and iPhone article, I have made little changes to it, apart from adding branding to it e.g. 'www.plugged.com / headphones'. I have also changed some of the fonts to make it easier to read.

Overall, I feel that this project has been a success, but looking back, I wish I had asked for audience feedback before the deadline, so that I could have made improvements to them. Despite this, I am still quite pleased with the outcome, and hope that it suits the needs of the client. I believe that I have managed my time efficiently, however I could have spent more time out of lessons, improving the graphic design of my products.

Project Management and Monitoring Production – 16/02/12

It is half term this week, the media work I have done in this week has mainly consisted of graphic design on both the contents page and the front cover. Unfortunately, I have not been able to work on the articles, as I do not have InDesign at home, and the links would also be broken if I chose to work on the documents at home.

 In my schedule, I had planned to create the contents page for my product, but as I had already started this, all I had to do was add more stories to the contents page, so that it shows the reader what is in the magazine. In addition, I have worked on the front cover, and have made various changes to the design of it. One of the main changes I have made is to the font used. I was previously using 'Excelsior Sans', but changed the font to 'Aero Matic' which I downloaded off dafont.com, as I believe this font looks more professional for the front cover. I have however continued to use Excelsior Sans for the contents and double page spreads. I have also changed various effects on the front cover, and have added drop shadows, and inner shadows, to give the page more depth. The only doubt I do have however is that the front cover looks too cramped, so next week, I will invite assessor comments and see what they think in terms of the front cover.

I believe I am nearly finished in terms of the front cover, but minor changes will be made next week in the days running up to the deadline, however I plan on spending most of next week making improvements to the DPS articles, as I have not had any chance to do that in this week.

Below you can see both the front cover and contents page, and how they have changed from last week:

Front Cover: 

Contents Page:

Project Management and Monitoring Production – 10/02/12

In my schedule this week, I had planned to edit the pictures for the double page spreads and write both of the article for the double page spreads. However, I have been ahead of schedule, and I had finished both the headphone article, and most of the tablet article.

I have therefore spent one lesson this week writing the article for the iPhone 4S. I did not manage to complete this in lesson though, so I spent some of my free time at college finishing it off. I also had to finish the verdict for the tablet article, so spent half a lesson this week completing that.

Since then, I have continued to carry out the graphic design work for each element of my product. I have added more sell lines to my front cover, and changed both colours and sizes so that it fits onto the front cover, while also looking professional. In addition, I have created a contents page for my product, which I started in lesson, but have also spent free time on.
 
I have also started to tidy up the double page spread articles, for example in the tablet article, I have made sure that on Photoshop, the images do not have any lines around them which were not erased when I used the magic wand tool. I have also added 'P' ratings, so that the products have been rated, giving the reader a better insight into the quality of the tablet. I also added boxes to the description of each tablet, so that it stands out against the background, but changed the opacity so that it looks more professional.

In the Beats Headphones/ Apple iPhone 4S article, I used the skill that I learnt previously, and wrapped text around the image used for the iPhone article. However,when I used the 'detect edges' setting for this, it did not work, so I had to use the 'bounding box' setting and change the size of the image accordingly. I also changed the quote insert to make it look more professional.

I have learnt various skills this week. For example, I have learnt to rasterize text/ shape layers so that I can make selections in them, either to fill in, or remove so that the background can be seen. An example of this is the 'P' ratings on the tablet article, where the blue background can be seen behind the P. I also learnt to use the polygonal lassoo tool, to cut part off a rectangle, so that it looks more triangular. Along with the new skills I have learnt, previous skills from AS Media: Communication and Production are helping me to progress in my project.

I am happy with my articles, and do not believe I need to write anymore for any of the articles, but think that the rest of my time needs to be spent on the grapic design of my product. This is therefore what I will be doing in half term. I have downloaded the Photoshop trial from Adobe, so that I can use this at home, and improve my product over half term.

Below you can see the documents as they are now:

Front Cover:

Contents:

DPS 1:

DPS 2:

Project Management and Monitoring Production – 27/01/12

This week, I feel I have acheived a great deal in terms of my project. In my schedule I had planned to create the PSD document which would hold the front cover, and edit the pictures, as well as create sell lines for the front cover.


I was ahead of schedule last week, as I managed to create the PSD document on Thursday 19th. I therefore had spare time this week, so spent this editing the pictures. I used various tools (e.g. clone stamp tool) to get rid of blemishes on the models skin. I also used the unsharp mask filter, so that the model looks more sharp, and therefore more appealing to the reader. I also played around with the brightness/ contrast settings, and selected various parts so that the skin colour of the model was consistent, as when I had taken the pictures, some parts were more exposed than others. However, I did not manage to improve the sell lines, which was something I planned to do this week.


Although I had not planned on completing the article for the Beats headphones this week, I thought it would be a good idea to complete it, as I would then be able to see how it looked with the picture, which I also have spent time this week editing. I have learnt various skills while laying out this article, such as how to wrap text around a picture in InDesign.


I also started to layout the tablet article, but experienced problems while doing this. I have changed my mind a number of times as to how the article should be laid out, as I want it to look professional, but can't decide which is the best way to do this. When laying out the tablet article, I decided a 'sticker' with the brand name 'Plugged' on it would look good, so decided to look at a tutorial, and create the sticker myself, and as a result have learnt what clipping layers together does, as well as how to learn the elliptical marquee tool on Photoshop.


Overall, I feel that my project is now starting to take shape, but as I am off on a family holiday next week, it is important that I keep up with work when I get back and get straight back into the production of my project, as I only have 3 weeks until the Unit 5 deadline when I get back, and in addition there is half term, where I will not be able to work on any of my articles as I do not have InDesign at home. One thing that I need to keep an eye on over the next few weeks is my network space, as there is now a growing number of documents/ jpegs, and if I run out of network space, I am at risk of losing some of my important documents.


Below you can see the documents that I have been working on this week, and how they have progressed from last week.


Front Cover:

DPS 1:

DPS 2:

Project Management & Monitoring Production- 20/01/12

Since last week, I feel I have progressed a lot in terms of the production of my project. In my schedule this week, I had planned to create a document which would highlight the various sell lines, headlines and kickers that I would use in my project. I had scheduled myself a lesson to complete this in, but I managed to complete it in less time than I had planned. I therefore used this time to create the InDesign documents I would need to create the base of my two articles.


I had also scheduled a lesson to have a meeting with my model, but I then quickly realised that I would not need to do this in lesson as I met up with the model out of college, and discussed the photoshoot plans with her then. I therefore spent this lesson experimenting with the layouts of my articles, and also the front cover. I have also spent some of my free lessons looking at professional examples, so that I can adapt the techniques used for my product.

On the 18th January, I had my photoshoot. I have since made a contact sheet of the photographs I have taken, and discussed whether or not they will be used in my product. I had scheduled two lessons for the photoshoot, but it took less time then I had expected, so I now have more time for the production of my project. I do however feel that I should have spent a bit more time on the photoshoot, as I would have had a bigger selection of pictures to choose from. Nonetheless, I am fairly happy with the pictures I do have.

Although I have not really learnt any new skills this week, I have used a range of skills that I acquired in my AS Media: Communication & Production course to help me to start creating my product. This includes the use of InDesign & Photoshop. Overall, I think it is essential that I keep on top of my workload, as I have two exams in the next week, and I am off on a family holiday the week after, so I will therefore have less time to work on my media project.

Below you can see the basic documents which I have started on, which will be the bases of the different elements of my product.

Front Cover:

Double Page Spread 1:

DPS 2:



Contact Sheet

This is a contact sheet, which allows me to decide which photos I will use for the project, and which ones have problems with them, meaning that they can't be used

Model Release Form

I have scanned in a model release form, which shows that the model has authorised me to use the pictures of her that I took in the shoot

Photoshoot

On Wednesday 18th January, I had my photoshoot. I had originally booked it for 10.50 until 11.50, but it only took half an hour rather than the full hour. I had two different lighting set ups, one of which was broad lighting and one of which was butterfly lighting.

To start off with, I just took photographs of the products that will be featuring in my magazine. These were a pair of headphones, and an Apple iPad. This set up consisted of a white backdrop, and one fill light. This made the products look lighter, and therefore more appealing to the reader. I took pictures of the products from different angles to test which would look best. I also took pictures from different distances, to see which would be better for my magazine.

I then changed the lighting set up, so that it now resembled butterfly lighting. I would use this set up when taking pictures that involved the model (Carlie). The key and fill light together make the subject look more angelic, which would therefore appeal more to the reader. This set up is also good for photographing women, hence why I have used it. I used the same props as before, but this time the model would be using them. I asked the model to look like she was enjoying herself, so that the readers would be more enticed to buy the product.

I did encouter some problems however, as I kept getting the top and sides of the backdrop in the picture, which left gaps. Chris Warriner suggested that I use a step ladder, which worked well as it also meant I could experiement with more angles. I also encoutered problems with exposure, so I experimented with the settings on the camera to rectify this. I had to also make sure that when I was taking photos, especially for the front cover, that I experiment with different poses, as I also had to consider where sell lines etc. would fit around the central picture.

Overall, I managed to take 50 pictures, which I will then put into a contact sheet, where I can review them, and decide whether I will use them in my product or not.

Below is a picture of the butterfly lighting set up that I used:

Article Planning Sheet

I have created an article planning sheet for each article I am going to create, so that I know what the tone, structure etc. is going to be of each article.

Headlines, Sell Lines, Kickers, Fonts, Colour Schemes

I have come up with various different headlines, sell lines and kickers for my magazine. These are the ones I am planning to use in my magazine, but I may test these on my target audience to see which they prefer. I have also found a variety of fonts online, which will also be tested on the target audience. I have created some colour schemes which I believe will look professional, and also be relevant to the content of each article.

Call Sheets

I have also created call sheets for each member of 'staff' that will be involved in the photoshoot, so that they know what they need to do in order for the photoshoot to be successful.

Photoshoot Plan

I have created a photoshoot plan, so that I know exactly what I will do in the photoshoot, and so that the lighting assistant knows exactly what lighting set up is required.

Schedule

I have created a schedule so that I know when tasks are supposed to be started, and completed. This will help me to keep up, and not fall behind.

Project Management and Monitoring Production – 10/01/12

In this week, I planned to complete various tasks. The first task I scheduled myself to complete was the photoshoot plans. I have been successful in this task, and managed to creat two individual photoshoot plans. I also planned to complete the plans for my article, but the call sheets took longer than expected, and therefore I had less time to complete the article plans. As a result of this, I have still not completed my article plans, so I will complete them in my free lessons so that I am not interfering with this week's schedule.

I also planned to create a document to test my flat plans on my audience this week as homework, but had work all weekend so completely forgot about creating this. Again, I will do this in my free time, but I will have to make sure that I do it this week as I am planning on doing my photoshoot next week, and it would be better if improvements to pictures were suggested beforehand, rather than after the photos have been taken.

The final task I had planned as homework this week was to book my photoshoots. However, I am still having trouble acquiring some of my props, and need to get this sorted before the photoshoot can be booked. I plan to rectify this in the next couple of days, so that my photoshoots can be booked next week. Although I would like to have my photoshoots next week, it is not essential, and I can be quite flexible as I can start to write the articles before photos have even been taken.

I have learnt various skills this week, such as how to create call sheets. Before I had created my schedule, I had never even heard of a call sheet, so to have created 3 in the last week is good. I have also researched more unusual lighting techniques rather than the two or three I have looked at in class.

Overall, I think I have performed well this week, and managed to get the majority of scheduled work done, but I think it is essential that I start to complete more media work out of class, otherwise it is quite possible that I will fall behind schedule.

Contigency Plan

There are a number of tasks that could go wrong in my project, so in order to be prepared for these, I have made a contigency plan so that I know what I can do in case any of these problems do arise.

Pitch- Plugged Magazine

This is the pitch I have created for my magazine, 'Plugged'

Pitch- Plugged Magazine

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